


Clean

by sartiebodyshots



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 03:26:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16824169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sartiebodyshots/pseuds/sartiebodyshots
Summary: Rose May barely makes it to Smith Casey's garage.





	Clean

**Author's Note:**

> Written for badthingshappenbingo prompt: dehydration

When Rose May stumbles into Smith Casey’s garage, she can barely stand. It’s been three days since her water supply ran out. That most of the water she’s been drinking in her time on the surface has been irradiated probably doesn’t help. 

The robots in the vault trigger her fight or flight instinct, and she nearly trips over her own feet trying to get away before she realizes that they’re not actually a threat. 

Her vision wavers as she enters the main chamber, her heart pumping as she sees her Dad’s face for the first time in too long. He’s trapped behind glass, and Rose May hits the pod with her fists to try to get him out. 

_ Please put on your Vault suit and enter the pod. _

Rose May doesn’t want to risk hurting Dad by breaking him out by force, so she drops her pack with a heavy thud. To say she strips off her clothes implies a much more active approach than she takes. Her armor and clothes fall off, and she is too weak to do anything other than listen to all her worldly possessions hit the ground.

She’s standing, naked and shivering, cool vault air caressing over her grimy skin. It’s been a while since she’s seen herself naked under bright vault lights; her ribs poke out under her skin, and all the softness has drained out of her body. There are scars that run across her legs and stomach, angry lines that make her spinning head spin harder.

Rose May forces her body to action. She pulls the vault suit onto her body, hiding it once more. There’s no comfort in the familiar action; the vault suits of home are worn with history, but the vault suit given to her by the robot is as fresh as a 200 year old suit can possibly be. More dust than grease stains.

Sinking into the embrace of the chamber is… nice. No need for her legs to carry her any further, and as the screen pulls up and the machine attaches itself to her, Rose May’s awareness of her physical body drifts away. 

* * *

When Rose May leaves Tranquility Lane, the first thing she realizes is that she feels  _ great _ . Her head no longer feels like it’s trying to escape her body, her stomach isn’t rumbling, and her mouth isn’t dry. 

She gets to her feet, legs not aching for the first time in a long time, looking around for her father. 

Dad is already out of his pod and crossing over to her. He scoops her up in his arms, Rose May clinging to him tightly.

_ I’m home. I’m home. Everything is going to be alright. _ Rose May thinks.

“You made it all the way here?” Dad says.

Rose May nods, not trusting herself to speak.

“And you look so well! Rose May, I can’t believe it,” Dad says. “You really survived the wasteland, all on your own- from the looks of it.”

Of course. The pod wiped away all traces of her weakness. It hydrated her, fed her, and- from the feel of it- even cleaned her. Her father can’t see through that, apparently.

“Yeah. Yeah, I did,” Rose May says. 

She doesn’t want to lose the proud smile on her father’s face. She doesn’t want him to worry, to think her weak. 

Her father moves right on to his plans for the wasteland, and Rose May can’t do anything other than nod along.


End file.
